Merry Christmas!

Movie Quote of the Year

I wasn't sure if I'd like Love Actually, but once Hugh Grant finished his opening monologue, I knew this movie was a winner:

"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaking suspicion... love actually is all around."

Pure poetry.

Feeling Accomplished

Yesterday, I found out that a manuscript that I read and highly recommended is going to be published! How affirming! Seriously, that made my day. Now I know that I have a knack for finding good literature. But it is making it a little difficult to be searching for technical writing jobs when I've discovered that I'm good at this editing stuff. I do have an interview sometime soon with the people from the MN Literacy Council, though. They produce a literary magazine each year, and they're interested in me helping them out! It's a part-time unpaid internship again, of course, but what can you do? The publishing world is kinda brutal, and I'm still tasting the beginnings of it.

So, be looking for a collection of short stories called Still Life with Plums. It should come out in about two years :)

Corresponding Shapes

My heart is breaking. People living together before they are married, people being politically correct about homosexuality, people being homosexuals. What ever happened to the sanctity of marriage, to the beauty that God created for us? Maybe I'm more effected by these social norms now, because I am married and know just how wonderful and lovely it is, and I see how Satan is destroying it. And maybe I'm more attuned to the deterioration of love, because I'm interning at a publishing company where artists are more open about their sexuality, more articulate about their sin. They make it look glamorous, poetic, beautiful. And that bothers me deeply.

But I'm a writer too. And a Christian. I feel more like a minority than I ever have before. But I won't stand for tolerance, acceptance. Tolerance becomes complacency, ignorance, indifference, and I don't want to live in an indifferent world. I will celebrate sexuality, but within marriage and between a man and a woman. Sorry if I offend anyone, but I will make God's view known.

And on a side note, though the Twilight series is very poorly written, Meyers is at least portraying dedicated love. And hey, they don't have sex until they're married. Kudos for that. In a world filled with frivolous sex, it's good that young people are idolizing a storyline that has some moral goodness in it. Not that idolizing is all that great of a thing, but that's an entirely different topic. I won't get on my soapbox about it, yet ;)

Love,

Heidi

The demise of an American icon may be upon us. I heard in the news that Disney is planning to change the look of Mickey Mouse, make him more relevant, more accessible for today's children and youth. How can that even be right?

Obama must be behind it.

23

It was my birthday yesterday, and Josh and I did a lot of things that made me feel like we were living the high life. First, he gave me an ipod nano that he won from the Apple store and an itunes gift card to help fill it up :) It's so skinny, I'm afraid I might accidentally eat it.

Later, we stopped by the Minnesota History Center with the free ticket passes we got from the library. I wish we could've stayed there longer, though. The exhibits are very intriguing, especially The Minnesota's Greatest Generation section. They had the back end of an real plane in there! And a sweet old 50s car and a ton of old-fashioned t.v.s (which Josh liked the most, of course).

For dinner, we went to this fancy restaurant called Kozlaks. Fantastic tenderloin and cheesecake. And we didn't have to pay for that either, because we had a gift card. Woot!

And to top the evening off, we went to the Minnesota Opera to see Casanova's Homecoming (once again, with free tickets). The show was sung in English, which is not my preference for operas, but it was highly amusing and full of sexual innuendoes. But what can you expect if you're watching something about Casanova?

Needless to say, the 21st of November was a great way to start my 23rd year of existence.

Heidi

p.s. Please note that not only is this my 23rd birthday, but it's also my 23rd blog. I'm just that coordinated ;)

The Visitors

Wow. I think I'm really going to like this new show on ABC. A quick premise of the show, so you all understand: Aliens have arrived on earth in our modern time (during wars, economic strife, poverty, etc.) and claim, through the attractive and articulate leader, that they will give us world peace, and therefore, happiness. People practically worship these "saviors" and the "change" they will be bringing, no questions asked. And another one of the Visitors plans to gain our trust is to implement universal healthcare. Interesting. Oh, and did I mention that the aliens are really planning to annihilate us all?

Maybe we should listen.